OHKI: an improved Kogan clone?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 02 August 2011 14:25

Your IT - Home IT

It's not just Kogan out there rebranding consumer electronics and home appliances from China and creating a new brand, but another two entrepreneurs who've started a very similar business in late 2010 called OHKI that has now diverged into non-self branded products.

If you thought it was just Kogan that was king of the discount consumer electronics, there's a new player in town who has been around since late 2010.

That brand is OHKI.com.au, and it was founded by Lucas McEntee and Jason Littlewood, who 'saw an opportunity to build an Australian electronics retailer and home appliances dedicated to offering customers with choice in terms of product ranges at the best value and strong customer service above anything else'.

The founders say they started by 'selling a single television online in 2010' but have since 'grown rapidly to now offer a wide range of products at some of the lowest prices available in Australia.'

My guess is that the founders had also heard of the 'OKI' brand name, which I remember as a printer manufacturer, but which I rarely hear much about these days. Whether OHKI is meant to capture any of OKI's previous brand awareness, I have no idea, but if so, it worked on me.

Clearly, it's not just the Kogans of the world that OHKI wants to compete with, but the Gerry Harveys of the world too - and why not? If it works for Kogan, it can work for anyone willing to put in the time to create an import business, a brand and an online retail shopfront to capture as much local business as possible.

The last time I heard from OHKI was a few weeks ago when they started selling what OHKI now says is one of its best sellers - a 42-inch 1080P LED TV  with PVR, 120Hz, one year warranty and 14-day money back guarantee for AUD $699.

But even then OHKI had some other consumer electronics and home appliance stuff for sale.

Now OHKI says it has expanded its range even further to 'include a number of cooking, food preparation and other homeware products from high profile home brands including Breville and Kambrook.'

Thus, OHKI isn't just putting its own brand on products, but reselling other brands too, which is a divergence from the Kogan model of doing things.

So, besides the opportunity to make more money by having a fuller range to sell to end-users, what else is OHKI saying about its new range?

Please read on to page two!